Honesty
by shadowcatbrat918
Summary: Summary: "Duncan never did understand how important honesty was to me," Courtney's POV. Anti DunCourt. Implied DunGwen and AleHeather.


**Honesty**

**Summary: "Duncan never did understand how important honesty was to me," Courtney's POV. Anti DunCourt. Implied AleHeather.**

* * *

_**TDWT Tour Bus, Driving To Start The Show.**_

"Are we there yet?" Owen wailed from the backseat for the umpteenth time throughout the journey – I swear to God I was going to kill him in a minute!

"No! Now sit down and shut up!" Chef called from the front of the tour bus where he was – gulp – driving.

I looked at the person asleep in the seat next to me – Duncan, of course – who was currently dead to the world. How he could sleep through all this yelling and Gwen and Heather's constant bickering was beyond me.

He'd fallen asleep half an hour into the journey, after I'd the conversation had run a little dry and I told him he looked tired. He did, but I could tell he was grateful for a reason to stop talking about _the weather_. There's only so many adjectives to describe being in Egypt on a tour bus with broken air conditioning that feels somewhere between a sauna and a greenhouse. For once, I'm glad this show's so cheap. The cracks in the windows let a bit of fresh air in.

While Duncan had been sleeping – for four hours straight. _God_ I needed to get off this bus. Didn't we have a rest stop coming up or something? – I had been reading my book for a while, and when that got boring, I'd started prepping for going back to school with some math books I'd brought along. _What?_ Textbooks are the new mace. Can't be too careful with some of the guys on this bus . . . . especially Duncan.

And that new guy, _Alejandro_. Sure, he's hot, but he'll never measure up to Duncan.

After doing a few –thirty - math problems, I decided to check my answers.

"Right, right, right, right . . . . wrong," I sighed, putting a cross next to the wrong answer and correcting it.

"Why'd you do that?" Duncan asked suddenly, making me jump since I hadn't realised he'd returned to the land of the living.

When I turned to face him, he had his trademark smirk on his face. How I hated – loved – that smirk.

"Relax babe, it's only me," Duncan winked at me.

"That in itself is enough to make someone jump out of their skin," I retorted, then quickly added, "Not that I did,"

"Course not," Duncan agreed, and then he muttered under his breath, "Jumpy McChicken,"

I groaned and mumbled, "Pig,"

"Princess," Duncan shot back.

We locked eyes for a moment, then he smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"So, answer the question," Duncan requested.

"What question?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Why'd you do that?" Duncan repeated.

"Do what?" I raised the second eye brow.

"That," Duncan pointed at my corrected math problem.

"I wanna be prepared for when we go back to school," I shrugged.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "_No_, not the maths. Although that _is_ weird. I mean why'd you mark that wrong? You could've just changed the answer,"

"But then I wouldn't learn anything," I countered.

"Well you pretty much knew it anyway. You got the rest right," Duncan pointed at my other answers. "Besides, I thought you didn't tolerate anything other than 100%,"

I sighed. The one person who _always_ got me didn't understand the one of the simplest things I could do.

"I can tolerate it, I just don't _like_ it," I explained. "Besides, I don't wanna take credit for something I got wrong. Honesty is very important to me,"

Duncan eyed me curiously, then shrugged, "Whatever babe," before going back to sleep.

* * *

_**Greece's Pieces, Late At Night.**_

After finally pulling it together, for two reasons – 1) I would NOT let Duncan see me cry like this. And 2) _Heather_ was comforting me! _Heather_! – I'd managed to get a few hours of sleep. Although most of the time I did wake up either crying or screaming. Crying because I'd dream that me and Duncan were together and happy, and then I'd realise we weren't. Screaming because either I was screaming for Duncan to come back to me, or screaming at _Goth Girl_ because she'd stolen him from me. I'd honestly thought we were something at least _close_ to friends.

But now, after waking up screaming _and _crying, I decided to just take the few hours I'd had as sleep and call 3 o'clock in the morning a decent time to get up.

As I walked slowly down the plane hallway to see if I could sneak into the kitchen for a snack – there was less risk now than the first two seasons because Chef also had to fly the plane now. Like I said at the start of the show, Chef in control of any kind of vehicle was a reason to gulp, even if you were gulping one of his disgusting meals.

When I reached the kitchen I saw the light was already on. As I peered through a crack in the door, I saw Heather and Alejandro arguing. _Geez_, why didn't they just jump each other and get it over with? Although I suppose that's what people had probably said about me and . . . . Duncan . . . . back in the first season.

A tear rolled down my cheek and I felt myself give an involuntary whimper. Heather and Alejandro's heads snapped immediately in my direction.

"Courtney, I did not see you there," Alejandro called nervously. "Come in, come in. We were just leaving anyway,"

"Yeah, I was getting a snack and ran into this jerk," Heather snarled in Alejandro's direction.

He glared at her for a second, then his easy smile returned. "I was just on my way back from the bathroom. And yourself?"

"Same as Heather. Minus the jerk part," I replied, making Alejandro's smile widen. "The only jerks on this plane that I know of are Chris and Duncan, and I'm lucky enough to not have seen either of them on my way here,"

Alejandro's smile vanished at Duncan's name, and it was replaced by a look of sympathy. Heck, even _Heather _was being a little nice. I'm pretty sure that the hard look on her face was no longer directed at Alejandro at anymore.

Wait. If it wasn't directed at _Alejandro_, and it wasn't directed at _me_, then who . . . . ?

"Duncan," Heather nodded curtly at behind me.

"Hola mi . . . . teammate," Alejandro greeted, saying teammate instead of his usual 'amigo'.

I refused to turn around, because I'm pretty sure you could still see the streak that one tear hand left on my face.

"Heather. _Al_. Courtney," Duncan answered, using various tones for each of our names. He used the same tone Heather had when she'd said his name, a mocking tone for Alejandro's much unwanted nickname, and the tone he used for me was . . . . sad and nervous. What the f!%k did _he_ have to be sad about?

I groaned inwardly at my language. I really swore, and I didn't want to make a habit of it. Not for _him_. Not for _anyone_.

"Yeah hi. How's it going?" I replied quickly as I walked towards the fridge without looking behind me, trying to mimic Heather's tone.

"Not too bad," Duncan said slowly.

"Why? Did you panty raid Gwen or something?" Heather arched an eyebrow mockingly. I knew she meant that to hurt him – possibly for _me_ – but it just made me feel a little sick.

"Shut it," Duncan growled back at her, neither of them flinching at the other's comment.

"Whatever," Heather shrugged as she began to walk to the door. "Just don't go sneaking into the victor's cabin. The _trash_ was just taken out this morning. Wouldn't want Billy to have to make a second trip,"

Duncan scowled as the raven haired girl – who was possibly more of a friend than I thought – left the room, while Alejandro and I locked eyes, the corners of our mouths turning up slightly.

"Eh, she sure is a feisty one," Alejandro gave a small chuckle, nodding his head at Duncan ever so slightly to tell me if I wanted to appear strong, I needed to turn around.

Before doing so, I discreetly dragged a finger down my cheek where I assumed the tear track would be, silently asking if it was still there.

Alejandro shook his head almost unnoticeably.

I gave a tiny nod and turned around to face the jerk that broke my heart.

"Feisty's not the word _I'd_ used," Duncan smirked, his eyes flashing to me for a moment.

It was a reflex. If we were still going out – and Heather hadn't been so nice to me – I probably would've laughed at that, which would've made him happy. Instead, I slowly raised an eyebrow.

His eyes lost that mischievous glint he usually got when he mocked someone, and was replaced by a hint of pain that was gone as quick as it came.

There was a short and _very_ awkward silence.

"So . . . . ," Alejandro tried to think of something to say to cut the tension.

"Are you guys staying awake for good?" I questioned before I could stop myself.

"I think so," Alejandro nodded.

"Great, me too. I was thinking of watching a movie or something. Interested?" I offered.

"Sounds good. Shall I go see if Heather would like to join us?" Alejandro suggested.

"Uh huh. I'll get some popcorn," I informed.

"See you in a moment then," Alejandro eyed Duncan and me as he left the room. Me with concern, Duncan with suspicion.

Against my better judgement, I fixed my eyes and Duncan and queried, "How about you?"

"I really just came to get a drink," Duncan glanced at the fridge I was currently leaning against.

_Oh thank God._

I moved away from the fridge and tilted my head towards it instructionally.

Duncan walked across the room towards it while I turned my back to him and retrieved a big bag of popcorn and a bowl from the cupboards overhead.

Duncan grabbed a can of coke, shut the fridge door and opened it as he leant against the counter, staring at me as I poured the popcorn into the bowl.

After a few seconds of silent staring I growled, "If you wanna watch something, come watch the movie,"

Duncan sighed audibly but didn't seem surprised by outburst. Good, he was learning.

"Courtney," he started.

"Don't," I interrupted, tying the end of the popcorn bag back up and placing it in the cupboard once again.

When I turned back around, Duncan was barely a few centimetres in front of me.

"Duncan, don't," I said with more force than before.

"Courtney, we need to talk about . . . . ," he began to talk again.

"No. You're wrong. We have nothing to talk about anymore," I cut him off, pushing past him and picking up my bowl of popcorn.

Once again, when I turned around he was directly in front of me, although there was more space between us now since I was holding the bowl.

"Courtney I . . . . I'm sorry for how things ended," Duncan admitted, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, me too. I'm sorry things ended _period_," I grumbled, pushing away from him slightly.

"_Courtney_," Duncan sighed.

"Stop that," I snapped, putting the bowl down and whirling on him.

"Stop what?" Duncan raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise.

"Stop saying my name like you know me. Like you _care_ about me. You don't know me anymore and you _certainly_ don't care about me," I insisted.

"Courtney, I _do_ care about you," Duncan tried to reason with me.

"Just not as much as _Gwen_?" I spat, making him flinch. "And stop calling me that,"

"Don't be like that Court . . . . ," Duncan started.

"Stop calling me that!" I shouted at him, desperately trying to keep from crying.

Duncan's eyes widen and we both had the same thought as we glanced at the small crowd that had gathered at the kitchen door.

It consisted of Heather, Alejandro, Sierra, Cody and _her_.

"Well, uh, what do you want me to call you? Princess?" Duncan asked a little less confidently, now that we had an audience.

"Don't ever call me that again," I closed my eyes and cast my head downwards. "Don't ever call me anything at all,"

With that, I picked up my bowl of popcorn and made for the exit.

"Courtney I'm sorry okay? I'm really really sorry," Duncan pleaded as he grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving.

By now Owen, Tyler, Chris and half the interns had joined the group. Basically everyone but Chef was there, although there was a can tied to a piece of string I'm pretty he was using to listen to us whilst flying the plane.

"I know. I just don't care," I replied solemnly as I turned and looked into his eyes.

Duncan's hand dropped hopelessly from my arm as he took a step back from me.

"Do you want to know why I don't care?" I quizzed, gaining some confidence, even though I think by now I was crying quietly.

"No," Duncan mumbled. "But I'm pretty sure you're gonna tell me,"

"You know . . . . _knew_ me well," I credited him. "Any yet you still don't know why I'm taking the way things ended so badly,"

Duncan looked up at me, once again staring into my eyes. "Why?"

"Because, "I took a deep breath and picked up the popcorn bowl. "You lied and you cheated on me instead of just breaking it off with me and then getting together with Gwen,"

I began to walk slowly towards the exit, and then glanced back over my shoulder for the final blow. "You know how much honesty means to me. Or at least I _thought_ you did,"

With that I walked out of the room, walked out of the relationship, and walked into something new and happy. A new single life and a new friendship with Heather and Alejandro . . . . and maybe Cody, since right now he was holding Sierra back so she wouldn't go and write every detail of my fight with Duncan on her various blogs.

My life with Duncan was over, because now that I'd said what needed to be said, I could heal and move on.

_I wonder if Justin's still single?_

I laughed to myself at that thought. I might be single, but I wasn't going _there_ again.

* * *

**So there you go, Courtney's got clarity. And she's not dating Justin. Ever. Not again :P**

**Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. :^)**

* * *

_**Total Drama World Tour ~ Episode 1**_

**Duncan: Dudes this is messed. You're singing in a plane!**

**Harold: What did you expect? Chris is freaking insane! Huh!**

**Gwen: Yeah, but guys, you're singing on TV!**

**Courtney: Haven't you always wanted to? It can't just be me!**


End file.
